Can a brownie recipe be so good that it will cause someone
to steal a husband?
Recently on Twitter, user Caroline Mort shared this odd comment from a brownie recipe. It had to do with a woman, Sydne Newberry, who talked on and on about her amazing brownie recipe (made with Callebaut chocolate). Sydne shared with a friend who could never replicate it; instead, the friend ended up with
Sydne’s husband.
Sydne totally buried the lede in this case. We did not see
that twist coming.
So many questions arise from this tweet. Did the friend
steal the husband out of revenge because her brownies weren’t as good? Is the
husband a consolation prize in this baking saga? Or was she hoping the husband
was the missing ingredient needed to make the recipe work?
The comment was apparently left in response to a New York
Times article on Katharine Hepburn’s famous brownie recipe in 2015 and
circulates Twitter every few years, including now. According to The Cut, it is
one of the Times’ moderating teams’ all-time favorite comments and we can see
why – it’s a roller coaster ride and a whole story unto itself.
Sydne actually told the full story of the stolen husband and the chocolate dessert. She and her husband were in Germany,
where he was stationed in the Air Force. She describes her new friend as “a
gorgeous Italian woman who was very proud of her cooking and was a real food
snob.” Her friend asked for the dessert recipe and when it didn’t come out
right, the friend accused Sydne of leaving out an ingredient.
Fast forward a few years later, and the Italian woman came to
visit. A neighbor asked Sydne if it bothered her that Sydne’s husband was "fooling
around" with her friend. Sydne then caught the two in the act and after an
ultimatum, Sydne’s husband chose the friend. Sydne never spoke to the woman again.
The story turns out OK, though, as Sydne found “the love of her life”
who also loves the brownies, that Sydne has since tweaked the recipe after
going to baking school.
Now, after all this build up, we’re going to need that recipe.
Of course, after so much fame, the brownie recipe is easy to
find from both The New York Times and PBS. Just like Ms. Hepburn herself, it’s
elegant, rich and classic. Time to whip up a batch and reveal our enemies and greatest loves...